Rowing-type exercising equipment



April 0, 1968 P. ELM ETAL 3,380,737

ROWING -TYPE EXERC I S ING EQUIPMENT Original Filed July 31, 1964 Invenlors PETkOS E4 M1 A410 5444 A tlorneys United States Patent3,380,737 ROWING-TYPE EXERCISING EQUIPMENT Petros Elia and Kiki Elia,both of 7 Lowther Hill, London, SE. 23, England Original applicationJuly 31, 1964, Ser. No. 386,706, now Patent No. 3,261,606, dated July19, 1966. Divided and this application Mar. 2, 1966, Ser. No. 531,222Claims priority, application Great Britain, Aug. 14, 1963, 32,169/ 63 6Claims. (Cl. 272-72) This invention relates to equipment for physicaltraining, and aims at the provision of simple and effective means forrowing exercises.

The invention consists in physical training equipment comprising a basemember, supporting means upstanding from said base member, a beampivoted to said supporting means at a point intermediate of its ends, aseat on said beam on one side of said beam pivot, and means forconnecting a flexible line to a point of the beam on the side of saidbeam pivot opposite to said seat, a lever also pivoted to saidsupporting means at a point intermediate of its ends, a handle adjacentto one end of said lever, means for connecting a flexible line to apoint of said lever on the side of the lever pivot opposite to saidhandle, pulley means on said base member, and a flexible line running insaid pulleys connected at its ends respectively to the said means onsaid beam and said lever for connection of a flexible line thereto.

The lever is manually operable and connected to the beam by a cable.When the manually operable lever handle is pulled, it tends to rock thebeam or the like supporting the seat and thus to lift the seat with theoperator sitting therein.

The invention will be clearly understood from the following descriptionof forms (given, however, merely by way of example) which it may assume,and this descrip tion will be more readily followed by reference to theaccompanying drawings wherein FIGURES 1 and 2 represent, respectively inside elevation and front end elevation, a rowing machine for physicaltraining in accordance with the invention.

In carrying the invention into effect in one convenient manner, as shownin FIGURES 1 and 2 of the aforesaid drawings, a rowing machine forphysical training comprises a base formed with a fore-and-aft strip 1having a crosspiece 2 at each end. On opposite sides of the strip 1 aresecured upstanding brackets 3 between the upper ends of which is pivoteda rocking beam formed of a rear arm 4, e.g., of wood, to the sides ofwhich are secured two parallel metal strips 5 extending forward inalignment with the arm 4. A lever 6 is inserted between the strips 5,and a pivot pin 7 extends through the brackets 3, the strips 5 and lever6. The lever 6 and the beam 4, 5 are thus independently pivoted on thecommon pin 7.

A cable 8 is connected at one end to a cross-piece between the free endsof the strips 5 of the beam, and at its other end to a cross-piece in aslot in the lower end of the lever 6. The cable 8 runs over pulleys 9,10 mounted on the base 1, respectively substantially beneath the ends ofthe beam 4, 5 and the lever 6. The length of the cable 8 between theends of the beam and lever may be adjustable. To the rear, free, end ofthe beam 4 is mounted an adjustable seat 11, and at the upper, free, endof the ice lever 6 is fitted a cross-bar 12 with handgrips 13 at theends. It will be apparent that if an operator sitting on the seat 11grips the hand bar 12, 13 and pulls it towards him, the lever 6 isrocked and causes the beam 4, 5 to rock, against the load provided bythe operators weight on the seat 11.

A cross-bar 14 with a footrest 15 at each end extends transverselythrough slots 16 in the metal strips 5, and is slidable fore-and-aftthere-in. Tension springs 17, one on each side of the beam 4, 5 extendbetween the crossbar 14 and fixed anchors 18 on the beam, tending todraw the cross-bar 14 to the rear ends of the slots 16.

In using the equipment described above an operator seats himself on theseat 11 with his feet on the rests 15, and grips the handles 13 to drawthem towards him, in the manner of a rowing operation. At the same timestraightening of his legs displaces the cross-bar 4 and extends thesprings 17. In an alternative construction the cross-bar 14 may be fixedin the beam 4, 5, and the seat 11 be slidable along the arm 4 withspring means to locate it in a normal position. When the operator rowswith the grips 13 and lever 6 the beam 4, 5, is rocked, as previouslydescribed, and the load against which the lever 6 is pulled isdetermined mainly by the operators weight on the seat 11. It will benoted that since this load depends on the users weight, the device isautomatically suitable for use by persons of any size and age, since,for example, children will have less load to row against than adults.

From the above description it will be seen that the invention provides asimple and eliective rowing machine for physical training, but it shouldbe understood that the invention is not limited solely to the details ofthe forms described above, which may be modified, in order to meetvarious conditions and requirements encountered, without departing fromthe scope of the invention.

What We claim is:

1. Physical training equipment comprising a base member, supportingmeans upstanding from said base member, a beam pivoted to saidsupporting means at a point intermediate of its ends, a seat on saidbeam on one side of said beam pivot, and means for connecting a flexibleline to a point of the beam on the side of said beam pivot opposite tosaid seat, a lever also pivoted to said supporting means at a pointintermediate of its ends, a handle adjacent to one end of said lever,means for connecting a flexible line to a point of said lever on theside of the lever pivot opposite to said handle, pulley means on saidbase member, and a flexible line running in said pulleys connected atits ends respectively to the said means on said beam and said lever forconnection of a flexible line there- 2. Physical training equipmentaccording to claim 1 wherein said supporting means comprises spacedsupports, and wherein the beam and the lever are mounted on a commonpivot pinextending between the supports.

3. Physical training equipment according to claim 1 wherein the beam andlever are mounted for rocking about a common pivot, and one passesthrough a slot in the other at the pivot point.

4. Physical training equipment according to claim 1, comprising a footrest on one of the pivoted members, to receive the feet of an operatormounted on the beam seat.

5. Physical training equipment according to claim 1 wherein the leverhandle is formed by a transverse hand grip secured to the lever near toone end thereof.

6. Physical training equipment according to claim 1 comprising afoot-rest slidably mounted on one of the pivoted members, and springmeans attached to the footrest adapted to be extended under footpressureof an operator carrying out a rowing exercise on the equipment.

2,107,447 2/ 1938 Marlowe. 2,825,563 3/ 1958 Lawton 27279 3,134,3785/1964 Harwood 27273 XR RICHARD C. PINKHAM, Primary Examiner.

P. E. SHAPIRO, Assistant Examiner.

1. PHYSICAL TRAINING EQUIPMENT COMPRISING A BASE MEMBER, SUPPORTINGMEANS UPSTANDING FROM SAID BASE MEMBER, A BEAM PIVOTED TO SAIDSUPPORTING MEANS AT A POINT INTERMEDIATE OF ITS ENDS, A SEAT ON SAIDBEAM ON ONE SIDE OF SAID BEAM PIVOT, AND MEANS FOR CONNECTING A FLEXIBLELINE TO A POINT OF THE BEAM ON THE SIDE OF SAID BEAM PIVOT OPPOSITE TOSAID SEAT, A LEVEL ALSO PIVOTED TO SAID SUPPORTING MEANS AT A POINTINTERMEDIATE OF ITS ENDS, A HANDLE ADJACENT TO ONE END OF SAID LEVER,MEANS FOR CONNECTING A FLEXIBLE LINE TO A POINT OF SAID LEVER ON THESIDE OF THE LEVER PIVOT OPPOSITE TO SAID HANDLE, PULLEY MEANS ON SAIDBASE MEMBER, AND A FLEXIBLE LINE RUNNING IN SAID PULLEYS CONNECTED ATITS ENDS RESPECTIVELY TO THE SAID MEANS ON SAID BEAM AND SAID LEVER FORCONNECTION OF A FLEXIBLE LINE THERETO.